"At a meeting of representatives from 16 mutual telephone lines of Audrain County Saturday afternoon at the Court House a resolution was adopted stating that each representative should report to the community which he represented that it was thought best by those at the meeting for the lines to combine and buy the Mexico Mutual Exchange for $2,000 and maintain it. This will improve the entire system and give the farmers better facilities of talking to Mexico. At the meeting held in the morning at 10 o'clock, Val Erdel Jr., was elected chairman, and John Beal, secretary. Mr. Erdel stated that the different lines would have to combine, and buy the Mexico exchange and support it, or it would have to be sold to some other party. All present seemed to think that it should be bought by the Audrain lines and a committee was appointed to discuss the matter and report at the afternoon meeting. The committee was as follows: Vandalia, Judge Guy McCune; Laddonia, George Ferris; Worcester, J.E. Hodge; Molino, Thod Boulware; Benton City, R.J. Offutt; Auxvasse, W. Ed Boyd; Farber, W.J. Crow; Centralia, B.F. Pulis; Skinner, Chas. Tanner; Rowena, Melvin Beamer; Gant, W.O. Smith; Martinsburg, George Kellerhals; Cuivre, T.J. Parker; Rush Hill, Val Erdel; Carver Dam, J.T. Crews, and Pfitzer, Noble Barnes."

50 years Ago

"Sixty-four persons attended a meeting last night at the Community Room of the courthouse to gather facts to lead discussion groups on the theme 'Opportunities for Missourians.' Those at last night's meeting will hold three meetings this month in their communities, inviting three to five couples for discussions of boosting business and industry opportunities, improving the communities and opportunities in agriculture. The discussion groups will use material prepared by the University of Missouri Extension Division, designed to inform the people about the three subjects and help them form opinions based on facts, County Extension Director Hugh Keith said. After the discussions in the various communities, each participant will be asked to fill out a ballot giving his opinions on the subject. The ballots will be tabulated and the information turned over to various agencies."

25 Years Ago

" 'It was a short spring,' was the comment of many Ledger area residents early this morning when they discovered their cars covered with ice after record high temperatures the past few days. But the worst was yet to come. By midmorning, streets, county roads and highways in the area were covered with ice from the misting rain that was freezing. By 11 a.m., officers were investigating three Audrain County accidents caused by the slick roadways. One was in Vandalia, another was an injury accident on Highway 15, according to Sheriff Stuart Miller. Late this morning, Sheriff Miller said he had reports that heavy freezing rain would be in Columbia by noon, headed this way and expected to be in the Mexico area by afternoon. Later reports were that the heavy freezing rain had hit Columbia by 11:30. Ed Ferguson, superintendent of Mexico Public Schools, said all Mexico schools would close at 1 p.m. except the high school, which would be dismissed at 1:15. All classes tonight at the Vo-Tech School were canceled."

Page 2 of 2 - 10 Years Ago

"Police responses went up 9 percent but reported crimes went down by the same percentage in 2002 in Mexico, according to figures published by the Public Safety Department's annual report. Total crimes in Mexico were the lowest reported since 1996 and crimes against persons were the lowest since 1993. Mexico Public Safety Chief Greg Miller said the report was a sign that the community is a safe place. 'There's always going to be crime, but that's what we're here for. We're pleased to serve a community that's in such great shape,' said Miller. The annual report, released this week by the PSD, breaks down crimes and other police related statistics in every category and tracks them over a 10-year period. According to the annual crime index, there were 428 crimes reported in 2002, down 9.5 percent from 452 in 2001. The number of crimes reported peaked in 1999 with 488, and since then have dropped every year. 2002's total was the lowest amount of crime reported since 1996, when 387 crimes were reported. Despite the lower crime rate, Mexico Public Safety responded to a record number of calls. There were 117,745 police responses in 2002, up 9 percent."

The Yesterday In Mexico column is published daily in The Mexico Ledger.